


The Genesis

by TheChozoHuntress



Category: Guyver
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27237811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheChozoHuntress/pseuds/TheChozoHuntress
Summary: Life, an infinite energy of infinite possibility. Many have tried to harness and control this energy as a weapon. An uncovered ancient alien relic may in fact be that weapon. Yet, when her father suddenly disappears, and she finds a mysterious device hidden in their home, the truth that Shae Barker discovers is just the beginning of the end.





	1. Aftermath - The Prologue

Gunshots could still be heard going off in the distance. Sirens echoed in the city, fires lighting up the darkness, and somewhere, people were screaming. No doubt there were stores being looted as people desperately tried to take anything they could, despite it would mean nothing in the end. It was, for lack of any other way to describe it, Hell on earth.

A police cruiser raced by as the auburn haired girl pried her way out of the wreckage debris that was formerly a transport van. A few scratches, a bruise or two, but she was otherwise in one piece. The driver of the van, sadly, could not say the same. What was left of him that wasn't smeared through the windshield or over the dashboard, at least.

The girl fought down a surge of nausea in the pit of her stomach as she rifled through the front of the van. A pair of pre-loaded cash cards and a smartphone in the glovebox, an GPS tracker unit, and what looked like a tablet in the slide out compartment under the front passenger seat. Her gut wretched as she carefully checked the pockets of the dead driver, pulling out a heavy access key and a smaller flash drive sized device.

"Sorry, Reed," she muttered under her breath as she tried to keep her disgust at what she was having to do from making her sick. Taking a moment to close her eyes and breathe deep, the girl climbed out of the wreckage of the van and reached the sidewalk moments before her stomach gave in to the nausea and forced her to vomit on the side of the road.

Another cruiser went roaring by, followed by a heavily armored SWAT van. The light bars were going at full blaze while sirens screeched as the pair raced off toward downtown. As it was, she was going to be lucky to get out of central Los Angeles without being further noticed by her pursuers, and hopefully none of the cops that were heading into the chaos of downtown LA were on Chronos payroll.

Chronos. Just thinking that name was enough to make her stomach wretch again and spill what was left of her last meal out onto the pavement. What they had done, what they had been doing to lead up to this point. And the fact of how she had gotten dragged into all this because of her father.

Where was he in all this, she pondered for a moment. As she made sure her boots were tightened and zipped up the tattered leather jacket she wore, the brunette took a breath again, eyes closed as she fought down the sensations of sick at the thought of the entire series of events that had led to this. Less than two weeks ago, the only thing concerning her had been high school, keeping herself out detention and off the radar of the cheerleaders who felt it was best to be horrible to anyone definable as not in their clique.

Her life had been that of any other normal sixteen year old. Who just happened to be the daughter of a bioscience expert who had smuggled some very insane alien bioweapons out of the research group he worked for. Which had turned out to actually be a front for a hidden illuminati style group that had been engineering a take over of human civilization for the last few hundred years.

Which apparently her father had been aware the entire time he'd been working for them, and had been working toward until recently. Which all in all made her reconsider how well she knew her own family...


	2. In the Dark of Night

**_Two weeks prior..._ **

There was a peculiar sense of cold in the basement laboratories at Tempus. Not one of a literal sense, but a feeling of emotional chill, hollowness, and detachment. It may have had to do with the work conducted in the underground labs, containment tubes set up in rows through the main corridor, while the primary laboratory was separated into meticulously arranged sections.

Throughout the compound, various processing tubes were filled with what looked like odd animalistic and alien creatures, or some kind of anthropomorphic hominids. Some had fur wafting in the odd green colored fluids that filled the tanks, others were covered in scales, and many bare fleshed.

These were the things that were unsaid about Tempus and its work.

Walking through the main corridors of the underground facility was a man dressed in an off-gray overcoat, his shoes tapping against the almost sterile tiled floor. Brown eyes flickered about at the work being conducted around him as he continued through the subterranean compound, a hand coming up and brushing back dark brown hair from over his eyes, a touch of gray peppered throughout the dark mane and the month’s worth of beard he was sporting.

“Doctor Barker, I need a moment. Some of the optimization factors are a bit off.”

A simple nod as the man broke from his original path and stepped into the workstation as requested. “What’s giving you trouble, protein enzymes not converting to standard parameters again?”

“It's the equipment sent over from the Japanese branch, I swear.” The technician sighed as she stepped aside while the aforementioned Doctor Barker leaned over the projected screen and began tapping at the connected keyboard. “They make the quantity numbers, but their quality is garbage.”

A derisive snort was Barker's reply as he adjusted a number of processing procedures listed on the main screen. “All deserved respect to Doctor Barca and his design work, but Doctor Shirai has nowhere the same standard for the Japanese Branch’s equipment and optimization processes.”

There was a hiss as a set of confirming beeps signaled acceptance of the adjustments made, and another screen displayed the chemical injections being administered with timers counting to the next round of enzyme feeds.

“That should fix it. He'll need an extra day or two in the tank to fix the imbalances, but he'll be fine after that.”

“Thank you, sir.” The technician resumed her place at the console while allowing herself a soft smile. “I can’t imagine if it had been Director Valkus who had seen that, even after all the issues we’ve reported with the equipment sent from the Japanese Branch.”

Barker gave a mild shrug as he continued on his way down the main pathway through the processing facility. “I’m often told I’m not what people expect from a facility administrator. I’m not one for blaming everyone for inadequacies in the equipment, just adjust as we need and move on.”

As he continued on his walk, Barker would hide it as best he could as the smile faded from his lips and was replaced by a purposeful frown. It was once he was sure he was clear of anyone's view that he stepped off the main walkway and behind a rack of computer stacks. His eyes scanned about the wall, hand running along until he felt a shift in the texture and heard a low beeping. After a moment, a section of the wall slid aside to allow him entry.

Stepping through, Barker would wait until the wall section slid shut behind him, then continued on as a dull red light guided his way into the darkness. At the end of the rather claustrophobia inducing hallway, another elevator waited. A brief pause as he stopped to enter a code into the keypad, and awaited the scanning optic that swept over him. A lancet pricked his finger, enough to draw a hint of blood.

It was only then that the elevator doors slid open with a hiss of compressed air. A breath was drawn in as Barker took a step into the lift, now keying in his destination and leaning against the back of the elevator as it rumbled with the start of its descent. He idly watched the display on the keypad, noting not what floor he was passing, but how deep down the elevator was descending into the earth. By the time it rumbled to a halt, it was almost two kilometers beneath the surface.

Patient as he waited for the elevator to open, Barker checked his watch, then stepped out as the doors slid apart. The only light breaking the dark hallway was the dull red of emergency lighting. As he reached the end of the hall, Barker tapped the mounted keypad, a hiss once more signaling the door unlocking and separating to allow him entry.

And as he stepped through that final entry way, the man gave a sigh to see a dozen or so researchers monitoring their stations. “I assume Professor Odagiri is still working on the units?”

“He hasn't a break since they broke open the containment shell a week ago. Director Valkus has been pretty impatient about testing and all.”

“Fulton Valkus wouldn’t know the meaning of patience if it bit his face off.” With a sigh, Barker would nod to the technician and continue on. He paused as he reached a heavy set of sliding doors. A small optical sensor lit up as he waited, blinking several times, then flicking off. A moment later, the doors gave a heavy _clank_ and slid open to allow Barker entry.

“I trust Director Valkus still believes we have no idea as of yet what it is that we found at the Timpanogos dig site.”

Again, a sigh as Barker now pinched the bridge of his nose. The news he had wasn’t very encouraging. “Valkus actually has a decent idea that you're not telling him something about what they found in Utah, Yoshio. More so, Director Guyot has been apparently nosing into the LA datafiles. I'd say we’re running out of time here.”

The elderly scientist stared a moment at his companion, breathing in as he considered what he had been told. It was, to say the least, clearly a shock. “Admittedly, Fulton Valkus is more ambitious than his position would allow for,” Odagiri mused as he regained his composure. His eyes turned to three circular objects that were held within a containment chamber. “But he is no less problematic, to say the least of Guyot learning of what we have.”

Silence as Barker looked into the containment chamber, his eyes gazing over the three devices quarantined within. For a moment, he considered saying something, then stopped himself. “I’ll handle things, Yoshio.” He noted the look of concern in the elder man’s face as he continued to focus on the three objects within the containment chamber. “Truthfully, it’s better you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

Odagiri never got his answer, as when he came to, he was on a bed with three medics hovering over him, and he had a throbbing pain all over his head. Nearby was a pair of the junior technicians, and more disturbingly, a tall man with a shock of white hair styled in a pompadour, attired in a gray three piece suit, and a scowl on his face, who was speaking to several members of the laboratory team.

“All the power cut out, emergencies took several minutes to kick in, and when we checked on Doctors Odagiri and Barker, we found Odagiri on the floor in the observation station, and Doctor Barker was gone.”

Gone? Odagiri looked around as one of the medics helped him sit up now that he was awake. “Where did Sean go?” came a question that he knew was no doubt on everyone's minds. “We were running tests on the devices, and then I-"

“The units are gone, doctor.” The reprimanding tone was enough to silence the elder scientist before he could finish. The man in the business suit glared at Odagiri and his attending medics, as if somehow everything was their fault. Deserved or not, there was little worth in arguing otherwise with Fulton Valkus. ”Irreplaceable relics, the only three we know of in the world, and each one a singular unique prototype...and they’re now _gone_!”

Odagiri bit his tongue, resisting the urge for a snap-back retort. It weighed on him as well, not knowing what had occurred, and where the units in question, as well as Barker, had disappeared to. The man had said it was “better he didn't know”. But Odagiri was still wondering what it was Barker had been up to.

“Director Valkus. A minute, sir?”

Under his breath, Odagiri sighed with relief as Valkus stepped away from him and listened to the security agent who had called the man away. She held up a tablet, showing him what Odagiri assumed was likely video footage of the last few hours. While he couldn't hear their conversation or see what they were watching, Valkus's facial expressions were enough to clue the old scientist in that something wasn’t right. A glance was given to him and the attending medics, the look in Valkus's eyes speaking volumes of his frustrations.

“Consider yourself highly fortunate, Doctor Odagiri,” came the growled words as Valkus stared angrily at the scientist. “Not only is your expertise still invaluable to our work, it seems your research on the units may be of help in determining what it is Mister Barker is planning to do with them.”

What Barker was planning? As it was, they knew very little about the three devices. It perplexed Odagiri to even fathom a vague idea of what Barker had taken the units for, let alone know the man's deeper plan.

“Director,” came the interrupting voice of the security agent. “I just got word that we’re to expect a special inspector tomorrow morning.”

“A special inspector? Why would they be sending...” Valkus went pale as he realized what that news meant. “Did you already tell the Arizona headquarters about what happened without my review of any report?!”

“That’s my job, sir. A highly sensitive project was compromised, directive is to send an immediate report to Central to notify Doctor Barca and the Council.”

A low growl escaped from Valkus' throat, but he waved the security agent away in attempt to maintain his authority. Attentions now back on Doctor Odagiri, Valkus would give the man a glower before departing the medical station. “I want all research data obtained up to this incident on my desk before this ‘special inspector’ arrives tomorrow, Doctor Odagiri.”

A nervous nod was the doctor's response. “Of course, sir. As you need.” Despite being seemingly spared administrative wrath, Odagiri was filled with anxiety. He had so many questions of his own, and his fears were telling him that he was not going to get answers any time soon.

* * *

It was the dead of night when the door handle was jiggled and turned. Quietly opening the door, footsteps would make their way inside, carefully trailing through the house and up a flight of stairs. Without a word, the coated figure would stop by a particular door, hesitating, then carefully opening it to look inside.

Laying with their back toward the door, the figure laying in the bed stirred, despite no light breaking the night. They shifted again, promoting the figure watching to close the door as quietly as possible. The footsteps continued on, heading toward a door at the end of the hall. Pausing but a moment to unlock the deadbolt, the figure silently slipped in and shut the door behind them. There was a dull thud as a duffle bag was dropped into a well worn old armchair. After a long silence to make sure the noise had not woken up the only other inhabitant of the hours, the figure opened up the bag, looking at the three disc shaped objects inside.

He hesitated, head turning to make sure he was alone and uninterrupted. After assuring himself, the man sighed and took one of he strange devices from the bag. A few thumps would echo in the room, but once he was done, he zipped up the duffle bag, quietly exited the room, and made his way to the stairs. He paused at the same door as before, but this time, he didn’t open it. No need to risk waking the bedroom's occupant up.

Silently, he descended the stairs, careful to minimize any noise while exiting the front door, then making sure it was locked tight. He took a few minutes to pull put a small smartphone, keying up an app, then tapping in a location into a rideshare request. Making sure that he left little to no sign of his presence, he headed down the road, waiting at the far corner. If he was fortunate, the rideshare would arrive before anyone thought of where to look for him.

It was ten minutes before the dark blue sedan pulled up, matching the description on the ride app as he gathered his bag and got into the back seat. A moment later, the car pulled away from the curbside, driving into the quiet of night.

Hours later, the same sedan pulled into a rest stop, a closed gas station with minimal lights on at the pump stations. Getting out of the car, the driver would breath a sigh of exhaustion as he slid a debit card into the pumps pay slot, tap on the keypad, the pull the dispenser nozzle free and slide it into the gas slot of his car. Nothing seemed odd as the black painted van would pull in as well, stopping at one of the other pumps and letting out a woman dressed in dark gray coveralls. She was doing the same as him, refueling the van’s gas tank, so nothing at all seemed suspicious to him.

It wouldn’t be until the morning that the driver would be found dumped into a riverbed, horrifically mauled as if by a wild animal, and his car slashed apart inside. But the police who investigated the strange death found no sign of his passenger or the duffel bag he had been carrying with him. 


	3. Dissenting Days

The sound of the smartphone's alarm was still going as a slender hand would emerge from the pile of blankets and fumble around at the bedside table. A low groan also emerged as the hand failed to find its target, still feeling around until it ended up knocking the smartphone off the table and to the floor.

"God damnit..."

A sigh as the blankets unraveled to reveal brown hair tied back in a braid that reach to mid back of the girl previously wrapped up as she sat up in bed. A yawn escaped her as she blearily leaned over and reached for her phone. "It's too early for this," she mumbled as she picked up the cellular device and sat up, only to flop back on her mattress again. A flick of her thumb on the touchscreen set the alarm to snooze for another fifteen minutes, allowing the girl to roll onto her side, pull a comforter over herself, and doze back off.

When the alarm went off again, she sighed and finally pulled herself out of bed. Another yawn as she walked into her bathroom, pulling her braid out and starting the shower before peeling put of the oversized t-shirt and basketball shorts she had worn as sleep wear. As soon as the hot water hit her skin, she gave a tired sigh, letting the heat run over her before washing off.

Half an hour later, dried off and dressed again, the girl headed down the stairs to the main floor of the house. "Dad?" she called as she slipped her glasses on, not surprised at all to not get an answer. She headed for the kitchen, grabbing a sticky note from the refrigerator door and yawning again as she read. "'Busy night, won't be home until late. Order dinner, and make sure you get to school'." A snort as she crumpled up the sticky note and tossed it into the nearby trash bin. "Best see what's good on Grubhub when I get home," was muttered as she pulled out a few items from the fridge - fruits, yogurt, milk - and throwing them into the blender that was set aside on the counter, then grabbing a handful of ice from the freezer to add in before pressing the setting switch.

As the smoothie finished blending, the brunette rubbed her eyes. She pulled a large red mug out of the cabinet and poured the breakfast drink in before starting to gulp the mixture down. A few pauses, the mug and blender jar set in the sink once she was done, and with a flick of her hair, Shae Barker was slipping on shoes, grabbing her jacket and backpack from a set of hanger hooks, and retrieved her key ring from a rack mounted by the garage door.

Said garage opened up to allow her and her bicycle departure, a tap of the key fob in her pocket triggering the motor to lower the rolling door shut. Her feet now pedaling and pushing the bike up to speed, Shae turned down toward the main road, not willing to risk being late for the school day, even at the end of the week.

Within half an hour, she was pulling up to the bike rack that sat outside of Sego High School, taking just a minute to set up the bar lock before heading into the main quad area. Passing by a number of clusters groups of other students, Shae would ignore most on her way up the staggered stairwell leading up the main quad and toward her first class. It didn't help things as the first bell rang just as she crossed into the locker area, causing Shae to growl at the wretched timing. She prayed, as she hurried to gather her books, that the weekend was worth the aggravation.

* * *

The sun was still rising in the early morning as the clicking footsteps of well kept shoes against tile floor echoed through the main corridor of Tempus Research's main offices. The owner of those footsteps, a tall and broadly built blonde man dressed almost immaculately in a three piece yellow suit and wine red tie over the lavender shirt, would nod as security made sure he was cleared through the restricted entry into Tempus' deeper levels. After a three hours flight from Arizona to Los Angeles, he was wanting to get to work and resolve the issue facing them as soon as possible. That however, would depend on the cooperation of the local director of operations, Fulton Valkus.

"Inspector Lisker?"

His head turned as his named was called to him by the tall blonde woman dressed in black fatigues and sections of body armor, the same that all members of security wore this far into Tempus. Her own shoulders bore rank epaulets, denoting her position in the site security hierarchy. "I assume you must be Diane Sten, I reviewed your report this morning on the flight over."

A confirming nod. "Director Valkus wasn't very happy about me sending that in behind his back, but operational directives required it as soon as possible."

As he stepped into the elevator with Sten beside him, Oswald Lisker would sigh and lean against the back of the liftcar. "No, I'd imagine not. The theft of not one, but three relics such as the Guyver Units puts quite a mar on his already less than immaculate record." A pause as he considered some of the information he had read in said report. "I do have questions regarding the supervisor who went missing along with the units."

"Doctor Barker?" Sten knit her brow as she tapped in a code on the presented keypad in the elevator, then tapped one of the buttons for the upper floors. "I'm not familiar with him all that much myself. He seems to be good friends with Professor Odagiri and was well regarded by most of the processing staff and researchers at Tempus." Again, Sten paused before looking briefly at the tablet previously kept in a hard case carrier strapped on via her leg and belt harness. "Age forty-three, widower, his wife was Cori Edwards, died twelve years ago. Father-in-law was Marcus Edwards, one of the Tempus archaeological researchers who discovered the Three Pines Relic ship in Utah."

A brow was raised as Lisker turned his head to focus his gaze on the tablet instead of its holder. "Doctor Edwards. I feel like I should know something about him, but it's just on the tip of my mind."

"It _was_ twenty years ago, sir, well before most of us were brought in. The old downtown research center was abandoned and demolished a year or two earlier, just before the US data center cyberattack and archive loss."

The elevator jolted to a halt just as Lisker narrowed his eyes at the mention of that. Something was even more a red flag regarding the events described, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "I'll have to contact Central about that some time. In the meantime, I want all footage from last night up to when Professor Odagiri was found and the Units were discovered missing."

"Those were already forwarded to your temporary offices here, Inspector. I'll help you review them after you meet with Director Valkus."

The elevator doors opened up to a long and decorated office just as Sten said those words. At the far end was a desk, surrounded by half a dozen businesses suit attired men, was Fulton Valkus, his expression full of anxiety even as he very obviously faked the greeting smile that attempted to hold on his lips. "Ah, you must be Inspector Risker from Central."

"Lisker, actually." The man allowed himself the moment of amusement as he took the step out of the elevator, noting that Sten followed him a staggered few seconds later. "Oswald A. Lisker. And to be perfectly fair, Director, I know you don't want me here, so we don't need to pretend the pleasantries. I want to get this matter resolved just as quickly as you do."

Like a rock in water, the smile sank into a frown, and Valkus lowered himself in his seat. "Inspector, all due respect, I feel you being sent here was a waste of your time and unnecessarily expanded resources. We are more than capable-"

"The Council feels otherwise, Director Valkus."

Those dark eyes narrowed in annoyance as Valkus have a deep sigh, his forehead creasing at the interruption. The men around him stepped back nervously as they recognized his frustration at not being respected in what he saw as his dominion.

It did not miss Lisker either. He glanced back at Sten, who had cautiously stepped back toward the elevator, and gave a sigh as he concluded that he was hardly the first time that Valkus and his competency had been questioned. Fortunately for Lisker, Valkus was hardly the first branch director that he had been forced to judge. "Mister Valkus, I will remind you that I am here on authority of the Council, and I carry orders from Commander Guyot in particular regarding this incident."

 _That_ garnered a more fitting reaction from Valkus. His eyes widening in shock, shoulders tense. It was exactly what Lisker expected and preferred in his line of work. "Now, being I am not process optimized, that means you have little to no direct power over me, my actions, or any thing I report back to Arizona." The blonde man once more afforded himself a smile as he saw Valkus' frustration grow. "I was briefed on some of the less savory rumors about how you run the Los Angeles branch and Tempus, and this was specifically one of the reasons a non-Zoaform was sent."

He let his warnings sinking, observing as Valkus appeared to tense, then slump back into his seat. Satisfied, Lisker held his hand out in gesture for the rather anxious security agent behind him to hand over her tablet. A few tense silent seconds later, her felt the plastic casing placed in his waiting palm and brought the data device around to bring up numerous information windows regarding Tempus. "Now that we have those clarifications out of the way, I need all information your branch has on the units we recovered from the Timpanogos research site, and anything you may have regarding the Relic that was found in Three Pines twenty years ago."

The last instruction was one that made Valkus crease his brow in confusion. "I have to ask what a research file from almost a quarter of a century ago-"

"Sean Barker was married to Cori Edwards, the daughter of the research director at Three Pines." Lisker was quick to interject, once more referencing the records pulled up on said subject. "In fact, it seems to be that it was through Doctor Edwards and his connections that Barker came to be part of Tempus in the first place, a rare non-optimized supervisor." Eyes continued to scan down the dossier listed, and a brow would arc as Lisker noticed something that hadn't been mentioned by Sten preciously. "He has a daughter?" The inquisitive gaze rose to rest on Valkus, all but accusing him of the fault in not including valuable information. "Director Valkus, that is a very important piece of information if you had been previously aware of this. And if you hadn't been-"

"I will assume the fault there, Inspector."

It surprised Lisker to hear Sten speak up to defend the older man. He turned his head back toward the security agent, observed her for a moment, then nodded and waved for her to step forward. "Miss Sten, explain please."

"I was the one who provided Director Valkus with Doctor Barker's profile, and I failed to brief him on any immediate relatives that Barker may have had. If you want, sir, we can contact our implant teams and have her detained if you think she might know where her father is."

With a sigh, Lisker handed her back the tablet before shaking his head. "No, she's a teenage girl, likely in high school, and given the mid morning time, she would be in the middle of a very public area." He paused a moment as of considering another option, but then shook his head again. "And Barker likely wouldn't inform her of anything for the very reason that it would put her in danger if he did." Again, a pause as Lisker mulled over his thoughts. "Observation only for now. No teams, just surveillance drones and tapping any CCTV nodes in their area. But it's not likely she'll know anything important."

Silence was Valkus' only reply. He sat at his desk, wordless. A quick gesture to the men gathered around him, and they hurried to the elevator behind Lisker, nervously glancing at the blonde man as they passed him. After a moment, Sten took the hint and joined them. It was just the two men remaining after the elevator shut and began its descent.

It was Valkus who broke the tense silence between them. "I am well aware of what happens to those who presume they are indispensable, Mister Lisker." Valkus paused as he leaned back, expression smoldering while he observed Lisker for any reaction or cues as to his thoughts. "Genzo Makishima and the dismantling of Max Pharmaceuticals is something we branch directors are more than familiar with since fifteen years ago."

"Before my time, sadly, but I'm glad we understand and agree upon the severity of this situation." Lisker didn't give much beyond his collected response before reaching to his tie and straightening it a bit. "The better we cooperate, Mister Valkus, the better it reflects on your operations record, and the faster I can close matters up and go back to Arizona."

With a smirk on his lips, Lisker would turn on his heel and step toward the elevator. His hand touched the call button, leaving him to wait even as he knew that Valkus was glaring at his back. No doubt, the branch director was going to find as many loopholes as he could into asserting his authority during this investigation and recovery. So long as they found the missing materials and got things locked up and away as needed, Valkus was entitled to keep his seat, so long as other kinds of liabilities didn't come up in the course of events.

* * *

The last bell rang for the day, signaling the end of the school week and the start of the weekend. Hundreds of teenagers would make their ways to lockers, back to other class buildings, some to the track fields and the quad, and most to the front gates and student parking lots.

After shoving her own books away in the small locker and snapping it and the combination lock shut, Shae Barker slipped her glasses off to rub them clean for a moment, made sure the lenses were clear, then slid them back on and made her way down the main quad walkway toward where her bike awaited. She still hadn't heard anything from her father regarding the evening, which meant, as usual, that he was going to be home late and out early.

"Shae! Hey, Shae!"

Halfway out the front gates to where her bike was waiting at the racks, the girl deftly turned on her heel to see the taller and somewhat husky Asian boy calling to her as he hurried to catch up. "Not gonna be a good weekend for the usual hangout, Tetsu." She spun back around as they neared the bike rack, pulling her keys from her jacket and kneeling down to fiddle with the bar lock she used for her bike. "Dad left a note that he's going to have a late night again, and I've got a biology report due Monday."

"Mom wanted me to invite you over for dinner tonight because she figured your dad was having to do a long weekend again." The husky boy gave a broad grin as he watched Shae slip her lock bar into her backpack. "We're having teriyaki salmon and tempura."

A sigh would escape under her breath even as the girl lightly smiled. "I'd love to...but I _really_ need to get this report done for Mister Van Doozi's class, and I'm already cutting it close on my grades this year." Shae gave a faint grunt as she pulled her bike free of the rack, moving clear to the parking lot road and swinging a leg over the center bar. "Maybe if I get it finished before tomorrow, I can hop over for dinner then. Let Aunt Mizuki know I'm really sorry." A sigh again as she mounted the pedals, pushed into rotation, and slowly rode away onto the main road away from Sego High.

The way home was unusually backed up for mid-afternoon as Shae rode down and turned the corner at the primary intersection about a mile from the school. She could see a number of her classmates on the city transit buses as she pedaled by, amused at the irony of their weekends getting stalled. Another turn off to a side road, and Shae took the chance to pick up her pace as she swung by one of the smaller parks.

Another half an hour passed before she pulled up to her home, standing up on the pedals of her bike and swinging her right leg over the center to hop off while still in motion. Her left hand fished into her jacket, found her keys and the garage fob, and pressed down the soft rubber button to trigger the garage door open. Once her bike was tucked away in its usual place, Shae tapped the garage switched mounted by the onner door and headed inside with a sigh of relief and resignation.

Her father still wasn't home. Two days now of his late nights and early to leave mornings. With the sense of another night alone before the weekend even started, Shae threw her backpack onto the couch, slipped her jacket off to have it join said backpack, and flopped into her usual spot in the oversized beanbag that dominated one corner of the living room. A deep breath came as she reached over to the nearby table and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV. "I'm not in a rush to start the slog right now," she muttered to herself as she flipped through the channels, then pressed the menu button and pulled up a streaming app instead. Moments later, she had the J-pop intro to an anime series blaring from the stereo speakers while she slumped into the beanbag and tried to relax.

After a few more minutes, Shae pulled her smartphone from her pocket, tapping the screen and opening one of a few takeout apps she had loaded on. Her amber-hazel eyes scanned over the suggested fast food chains, some smaller local places, and then after a couple pages, the girl tapped onto one of the locations listed, put her choices in, and ran the charge. "Greek sounds good," she mused as she turned her attentions back to her show. Her phone buzzed as the food app notified her of expected delivery time, allowing Shae to take a moment to pull her glasses off and clean the lenses again.

When the doorbell rang, Shae took her time pulling herself out of the beansack, rubbing one eye with a finger under her glasses. Her dinner had been set nearly in a takeout bag at the door step, leaving her to sigh, pick it up, and shut the door behind her as she tapped at her phone and left a tip for the driver.

With her rear planted back in her beansack, Shae opened the styrofoam takeout boxes to reveal a gyro stuffed with lamb and vegetables, slices of the same meat on the side, rice, and a sizable salad. She took a large bite of the gyro, allowing herself a happy groan before setting the pita wrap back in the box and getting up to fetch herself a drink. Once retrieved, the girl planted herself in front of her meal and the TV, then continued to dig into her food.

It was once she had finished eating and was dozing off in the beansack that Shae jolted awake to hear her phone giving an emergency alert. Frantically, she reached for the device, trying to turn on the screen and find out what the alert was for. "'Eyes are everywhere'."

A perplexed blink was her response. Shae wasn't quite sure what the cryptic message was supposed to mean, nor what reason it had broadcast via the emergency alert tone for. She felt a tickle at the back of her neck, a sense she was being watched now, causing the girl to look over at the open blinds and the window behind them. No one was there, but she still was on edge now.

Another such alert broke the silence. Shae muttered to herself as she tapped the screen to see what was listed this time. "'They are watching. Hide in the safety of knowledge'." If this was someone's idea of a prank, it wasn't coming off as a very amusing one to Shae. She tossed her phone aside and laid back in the bean chair, then groaned as she saw the time. "'Safety of knowledge'. May as well work on this report in dad's office." With a sigh, Shae pulled herself to her feet and grabbed her backpack from its resting place on the couch. A series of thumps trailed her as she hurried up the staircase, heading for the room at the back of the second floor. She grabbed the handle and pushed down, frowning as she realized the door was deadbolted.

"Dad almost never locks this," she muttered under her breath as she slumped her shoulders and sighed. "When did he come home and lock it?"

Defeated for the moment, Shae headed back down the second floor hall to her own bedroom, now dropping her backpack to the ground and throwing herself onto the half-made bed with a grunt. "Why did dad have to pull an all-weekend stint at the labs now?" she groaned as she buried her face into her pillow. After a moment of resignation, Shae turned herself over, now on her back as she pulled her phone out and tapped on the web browser app. A few keywords entered, searches run, and Shae pulled herself up to sit cross legged on her bed. She wasn't in the mood for tackling her class report now, and with her father still not home, there wasn't much she could do. That, plus how exhausted she was, meant she was going to just get a head start on sleep at this point.


End file.
